Pull-ups are one of the big goals for me.  I have to use a chair to do pull-ups because I am a weak girly man.

I’m getting closer to that goal of unassisted pull-ups.  One day I’ll be able to do that.  Wasn’t Friday night.  I swear the wall squats are going to kill me.

Weight has been stuck at 202-204 lbs.  Fortunately my waist continues to shrink.  I bought a pair of 36 waist jeans.  I was wearing 38.

Tracking your reps and weights is invaluable.  Last week it showed me that I was dogging it.  This week it showed me that I was making improvements.  I managed more reps in all the pull-ups and increased the weight for all of the arm (bicep) exercises.  Felt good to be able to write down these higher numbers each time.

Ab Ripper X was also a good one last night.  I really felt the burn in my abs by the time we got to hip rock’n raise.  Good workout.

This is still one of the hardest resistance workouts.  Squats and lunges very quickly turn your legs into quivering lumps of jelly.  Wall Squats and Single Leg Wall Squats are killer.  I’ve never felt fire like that in my legs or any other muscle.

Ended up cutting Ab Ripper X short this night.  A neighbor needed to get on our internet connection to access some work files and so she came over at 9:30.  She was done just as we were getting started on abs.  Val started talking and before I knew it 30 minutes had gone by and I wasn’t motivated at all to try to finish up.  Ab Ripper X…I’ll see you next time my friend.

Gah!  Resistance exercise can really humble you.  I’ve made that extra effort to write down my reps and weights to better track progress.  Besides losing fat, one of my goals is to begin to gain muscle.  I’ve always been on the leaner side, which suited me fine in swimming and track while in High School.  Now I’d like to be a little stronger.  I’m a guy with an ego so a little more mass would fluff up that self image.  When you can’t increase your reps or weight and even fall short of previous reps; it can really bruise that same ego your try to please.  I still felt like I got a great workout and I was pushing it hard. Some how I just wasn’t able to improve and in some cases I fell short.  This is where it’s time to remember that I did my best and I should forget the rest.

What were we talking about? Oh yeah, Ab Ripper X.  Talk about getting things right.  In & Outs, seated bicycles, crunchy frogs and wide leg sit-ups all got the full 25 rep treatment.  First time I nailed the start of Ab Ripper X.  Wow that felt good.  I was feelin it after that but who cares right?  Fifer Scissor remains a real bastard.  After starting off so strong I couldn’t even do the first 6 without resting.  Hip Rock ‘n Raise continues to be a good one for me and Pulse-Up is getting easier each time.   Roll-Up/V-Ups continue to improve and can almost do the full 25.  Oblique V-ups I’m still stuck on 12-15.  Leg Climbs I don’t really count or care.  It just get’s me from Obliques to the finale, Mason Twists.  This time I stuck with Tony and the gang for all 49. Ab. Ripper. X. I hate it but I love it.

Yes sir, it’s push-up time again.  Started this one off strong.  That always seems to get me into some trouble down the line.  No exception here.  By the 5th or 6th exercise I was not so much feeling the burn as feeling nothing in my arms.  I wasn’t killing it after that but I did surprise myself by being able to at least hit all my goals and keep going.  Resistance type exercises are tough mentally. You really need to at least push or pull out that last rep or 2 to get some gains but it’s easy to let yourself stop before you should.  I’m also in a weird place with the weights.  I only have 5 lb increments and for many exercises I can do 15-20 at one but the next 5 lb increment I can’t even do 6.  I need some 2 lb wrist weights or something like it.

Felt good to get back on that horse…stance.  Didn’t let the weekend bring down all the progress I’ve made and got right back at it.  We even had yet another cookout with neighbors.  We went 3-3 for the long 3 day weekend and didn’t have to cook dinner once.